When an employee quits or gets fired, are you blowing an
opportunity to learn how you can make your business stronger and
healthier? You are if you're not conducting exit interviews.
The flip side of pre-employment interviews, exit interviews
don't focus on asking workers about themselves, but focus
instead on your business.

What could that do? A lot, says Steven Mitchell Sack, a New York
City employment lawyer and author of Getting Fired (Warner
Books). "From the employer's perspective, exit interviews
are very important. They can be a valuable tool. But you need a
strategy to make them work for you."

Robert McGarvey writes on business, psychology and management
topics for several national publications. To reach him online with
your questions or comments, e-mail rjmcgarvey@aol.com

Finding ''Good'' In Goodbye

Exit interviews are the norm at many big companies. As far back
as 1994, employment agency Robert Half International surveyed 150
executives from some of the nation's biggest companies, and 94
percent of them said exit interviews could provide useful
information. A stunning 76 percent said the information collected
at these interviews could be used to improve departmental
operations or company policies.

"There's no good reason not to do an exit
interview," says Allan Weitzman, a Boca Raton, Florida,
employment lawyer with Proskauer Rose LLP. "Even if you've
fired an employee for theft, we recommend holding an exit
interview."

In its simplest form, an exit interview is a private session
with the departing employee. It's partly done for housekeeping
reasons--collecting any keys or ID badges, as well as explaining
what, if any, benefits will continue. But an exit interview also
provides closure to the employee's time with the company. See
the worker out the door with a smile on his face, and that
ex-employee may become a goodwill ambassador for your business.

"It only takes 15 minutes, and it will leave the employee
feeling better about his overall employment experience with
you," says Dave St. John, a principal with FSJ Services Inc.,
an Atlanta human resources consulting firm. "Exit interviews
are a way to cement long-term relationships."

Who should do the interview? If possible, conduct the interview
yourself, or have a senior staff member do it. "Approach this
as important work," St. John says. "A good policy is to
rotate the assignment among different managers so you get varying
interpretations of the [exiting parties'] feedback."

Go into every exit interview with a script--and plan to ask at
least these questions of resigning employees:

1. Who is your new employer?

2. Why are you leaving?

3. What could we be doing better in your department and in
the business as a whole?

4. What problems exist that we might not know about?

5. What's your opinion of our compensation and benefits
package?

In addition, when the employee is resigning, get in writing that
the departure is voluntary. "That can be very helpful if a
court case comes up later," says Weitzman.

Private Points

Should you promise confidentiality? Although experts offer
differing opinions, the argument is strongest against offering it.
Why? Issues may arise that demand further investigation. If, for
instance, the employee alleges sexual or racial harassment during
the exit interview, it's a substantial risk to simply shrug off
these charges. Looking into them, however, could compromise any
confidentiality promises that were made. And if such a promise is
broken, it will get back to your remaining workers--and that will
greatly reduce their trust in your company's exit-interview
process.

When it's time to do the interview, keep your ears open and
stay flexible. "Listen," advises St. John.
"Don't confront and don't debate."

Giving the employee a chance to talk may open a door you
didn't know existed. For instance, "if it's a good
employee and he or she is leaving for more money at another
company, you have the opportunity to meet the increase and possibly
keep the employee," says Steven Adler, a labor attorney with
Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard in Hackensack, New
Jersey. "An exit interview always gives you a last chance at
retaining good workers."

What if the employee says he's leaving because of his
manager? Listen up. "Exit interviews can be a good tool for
finding out about problems with a particular supervisor," says
John Challenger, CEO of Chicago-based international outplacement
firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Understand, however, that a worker with a grudge may be using
the interview as a way to get back at his or her boss.
"You've got to skeptically view the information you gather
in an exit interview," says Sharon McFarland, a professor at
the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of
Cincinnati. But if six resigning employees all point a finger at
the same supervisor, you should take a hard look at how this
supervisor manages.

Other complaints that may come up: Deadlines are impossible to
meet; productivity demands are too stressful; there's a lack of
respect for individual workers; rewards are inadequate. Employees
rarely leave a job simply for more money; usually there's some
overall dissatisfaction with the workplace. And if employees do
open up, these are the complaints that you're likely to
hear.

"[A problem with] many organizations is they don't want
to hear the truth, so they don't do thorough exit
interviews," says Challenger. But a small business doesn't
have the luxury of hemorrhaging talent--you've got to hear the
truth so you can take steps to make your business a better place to
work for in the future.

What if the interview turns highly unpleasant and an employee
threatens to sue? If an exit interview is likely to be
stressful--and especially if an employee has been
terminated--"involve two people from your side," says
Adler, who cautions that you need to be very careful about what you
say in the interview. If an employee says "My boss is a
lecherous bum," don't say you've long suspected it,
but don't say he's not either. Just listen to the
employee.

Then, too, you may even find a way out of a lawsuit. "You
can use this meeting as a chance to defuse a potentially explosive
situation. See if there's a way to work out the problem without
litigation," says Weitzman. "We tell clients to solve
problems before they become problems. Once that employee goes to an
attorney, it could open a very expensive can of worms."

Most times, however, matters won't go in such a perilous
direction. It's more likely the employee will vent a bit about
a job gone sour--and that's fine because the harder you listen
to these rants, the more apt you are to have to hold fewer exit
interviews in the coming months. "Everybody knows if you want
to find out how the work is really done in a business, you talk to
the workers," says St. John. "If you want to find out why
people leave your business, talk to the ones who are leaving.
That's the way to find out what you need to do to keep more
good people on board."